Then there was the other counter where my wife and I were sitting. As I was watching, a woman walked to the popcorn machine and picking up a bowl she helped herself to some popcorn. My wife was somewhat surprised by that, but hey, different places, different mores. On the other side of our counter there was a pool table and a couple of guys with very impressive looking cue stick bags. Somewhere in there, there was a juke box as well. I took a bite of my salad and I had to admit, that it tasted just as good as it smelled, or possibly even better. I was happy that I had picked up the recipe printout - I was definitely going to prepare this salad in the future. I bent over my notebook and started scribbling. It was pretty much what you have read so far. I did of course correct it and add to it a little as I re-wrote it later. As I was dotting my last I, or possibly crossing my last T, John Hiatt came up on the jukebox singing Walking around the Observatory. I was pleasantly surprised, as I am a big Hiatt fan. I took a break from my scribbling and mentioned to my wife that this is a righteous kind of place and that we should come and visit again. I looked at her, or I should say I looked in her direction, but she was not there. I thought that perhaps, being with my head buried in my notes, I did not hear, or see her heading to the ladies room. I just gave the place another look around. Now, I do not have the best memory in the world, quite the opposite, but it seemed to me that the bartender was not the same as the one who had served me my first draught. As that first one, was almost gone by now, I drank the last swig, walked over and got a refill. This one tasted a bit different, but I assumed that the garlic had done a small number on my taste buds. Not that it was bad, just different.

I sat back on my stool at my alternate counter while John Hiatt was singing and a dollar and a half is all you're worth. I looked over to the pool players and had to do one of those cartoon-like double take head shakes. "What the Fuck?" I think I said that out loud because some people were looking my way. John Hiatt was standing in the corner holding a microphone. I thought that I must have gone into one of those time fugues that I always read about but had not previously understood. I was trying to run a scenario through my head that would explain how John Hiatt, one of my all-time favorite singers happened to be singing in a bar that I was hanging out in. I wished that my wife would hurry up, finish whatever she was doing and come back to me so that she could help me understand. We have our disagreements, but I appreciate her opinions very much. Tough! She didn't show up before the song ended, and while I was watching, mesmerized, John faded out and was replaced by Lucinda Williams singing Joy. I love that song. I sat and watched her, taken in by the intensity, until the last note faded out and she was replaced by Rush singing Tom Sawyer. By this point, my brain finally kicked into gear. I realized that I was watching some kind of video juke box. On the other hand, instead of an explanation, this possibility raised a lot more questions than the one possible answer. Where, or rather, when was I? And how the Hell did I get there? I